Word: songfulness
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...record opens with “Pray for Rain,” a song composed with such a hypnotic vigor that it risks eclipsing most of the tracks to come. A seething piano loop winds its way through cascading drum fills while Tunde Adebimpe (of TV on the Radio fame) warbles chilling lyrics laced with somber imagery—“Dull residue of what once was / A shattered cloud of swirling doves.” The song also has a more distinct arc than any other on the album. It’s the only track with...
...Paradise Circus”—the album’s other exceptional track—starts with the simple, skeletal chiming of piano and the glassy ambiance of vibraphone. A heavy bass line kicks in soon thereafter, and drives the song to the album’s musical apex. Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval lends her voice to this particular track, and her airy recitation of the lyrics only adds to the disquieting mood of the song. “Oh well, the devil makes us sin,” she coos...
Opening track “Acts of Man,” sets the tone lyrically and harmonically for the rest of the album. The song is rather static: Smith sings within a restricted vocal range, and the lyrics consist of a repeated chant: “If all that grows starts to fade, starts to falter / Oh, let me inside, let me inside, not to wait / Great are the sounds of all that live / And all that man can hold.” While the lyrics refer to both the barrenness of winter and earth’s hidden bounty...
...Ground,” which sounds quite similar to the first track, “Acts of Man.” The subject matter, vocals, and music all have exactly the same feel, showing how the album lacks overall direction. Just as each individual song feels static, lacking a swelling or diminishing of emotion, the album as a whole shows no development through the tracks, and we feel that Smith hasn’t taken us anywhere. That said, Midlake offers its fans an instrumentally original, if not enthralling, listen. Unfortunately, though, “The Courage of Others?...
...layering of multiple voices results in a richness that allows the album’s themes of love and interpersonal connection to delve beyond the simply playful and enter the realm of the emotionally stirring, as with the poetic line, “You painted a song / It started when I was young and now it is in my lungs...